Stock Update

Prices as of the close on 3/14

GG: $47.70

SLW: $41.36

COP: $75.81

The increasing price of oil due to demand and the crisis in the middle eastern region has helped drive the stock price of COP. Just this year, the price has increased 11.37%.

Recommendation: SWC

SWC, or Stillwater Mining Co. is the only palladium and platinum producer in the U.S. with a manufacturing plant in state of Montana. Palladium is used mainly in catalytic converters for motor vehicles and other electronic components.

According to The Motley Fool, "Stillwater has the only platinum and palladium mine in the U.S., and those metals have brought even bigger price moves this year than the headline-making gold market. Palladium in particular is up more than 80%, and platinum has risen around $250 per ounce this year."

The company's gross profit has risen significantly over the past three years and we predict that it will continue to increase. Like our other stocks, the share price depends much on the price of the stock's corresponding commodity. So far this year, the price for palladium has risen higher than both gold and silver.

Stock Price as of 12/22 close: $20.71

Sources:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/241698-employment-up-in-mining-and-energy-anyway?source=qp_article

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/12/21/is-stillwater-mining-the-perfect-stock.aspx

Sell: AONE

On Friday, December 17th, we decided to sell AONE.

Sell: AONE

Price: $9.00

Gain/Loss: -10%

As mentioned in my previous post, we don't think the lithium-ion battery industry will see profit in the near future. To reiterate, batteries are still too expensive. A traditional, gasoline powered, small-sized sedan is significantly cheaper than its electric counterpart. Presently, the car industry cannot support this new technology, it will have to wait at least a few years.

Sources:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/241693-is-lithium-ion-a-dead-end-electric-drive-technology?source=yahoo

Chevy Volt

Today, the Chevy Volt begins shipping to dealers in some states around the country. However, we are still pessimistic about A123 Systems (AONE), the manufacturer behind the batteries of this new electric car. The company has still failed to turn a profit in its history and analyst predict the company will remain unprofitable until the price of batteries decreased by about 50%. Many estimate this will not occur until 2014 or later. We plan to get out of this stock by the end of the year.

AONE Close 12/14: $9.28 (-0.35%)

Sources:

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/12/14/this-stock-is-going-to-zero-and-you-know-it.aspx

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/14/chevrolet-volt-begins-shipping-to-dealers/

Gold and Silver Timing

It might be time to get out of GG and SLW soon, which closed yesterday at ~$47/share and ~$39/share, respectively.  During morning trading, they've both dropped an average of 3%.

We bought GG at ~$42/share- a capital appreciation of ~12%, and we bought SLW at ~27/share- a capital appreciation of ~44%.

This run up was expected and now it's time to get out.

AONE Update

AONE has been a huge laggard in our portfolio- it missed earnings estimates yesterday and dropped around 12%.  However, there's a glimmer of hope on the horizon for this electric motor manufacturer: GE plans to purchase 25,000 electric vehicles for it's fleet by 2015, starting with 12,000 2011 Chevy Volts.

AONE is trading at $8.54/share, up 0.35% since the open.

QE2 Update..Exit Strategy?

Related stocks: GG, SLW

QE2 has driven our gold and silver plays through the roof.
Since our respective purchases about three weeks ago, we've seen capital gains of 17% for Goldcorp (GG) and 37% Silver Wheaton (SLW).

Do these companies still have room to run?  Or is it time to get out before the bubble bursts?

As of 11/9/10, gold is trading at $1,420 and silver is trading at $28